The Old Trunk

Editor’s Note: In preparation for the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution, the Four Rivers Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Member William Sanders is sharing messages of the impact of the war on today’s society.

This month, I am going to go off topic and talk about Memorial Day. Next month will be my last column, seeing that we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of our Nation on the 4th of July. It has been both a joy and a pleasure writing for you this last year.

From 1927 to around 1966, my grandparents lived in an old farmhouse in the woods, at the end of a quarter mile gravel road. From the time I was born in 1952, I visited that old house many times. There was no running water except for the kitchen sink, and It was heated entirely by wood. There was a small side porch on the back of the house. On this porch was a shaving mirror and a plank shelf. This shelf contained a wash pan, a bar of soap, and a well bucket, which had a dipper to drink out of or to ladle water, whichever the need was. Against the wall that joined the back bedroom sat my Granddaddy's large wood toolbox. In front of the last wall stood an old refrigerator that no longer worked. I will call it a refrigerator, but it may have actually been an icebox, time has dimmed the picture of it in my mind. On top of this refrigerator/ icebox lay a suitcase and a trunk.

There is a term that is probably not even known anymore, it is called plunder. When we hear it today, we think of anything that is robbed, stolen, or taken from somewhere, but it meant something entirely different in the 1950's. Some of you are old enough to remember your parents telling you before they went to town, “don’t be plundering while we are gone.” What they were saying was don't be looking in the cabinets or dressers to see what is hidden.

I can't even tell you whether children have an urge to plunder today. All I can tell you is that in the 1950's they did, and I did. Time has erased the first time I looked in the suitcase and trunk. More than likely an adult showed me the contents. After the contents of the suitcase and trunk were revealed to me,I plundered in them every chance I got.

My grandparents never went anywhere so the old suitcase was an appropriate storage container. I can't remember everything the suitcase held, but three that I do remember were a pin with an anchor on it with the letters USN , two round pieces of flat metal with holes on either end, and a strange booklet with stamps in it(not S& H Green Stamps). These stamps had different pictures on them of tires, sacks of sugar, and other things. I will divulge what these items were in a minute.

The old trunk contained even more treasures. It was full of uniforms. My father and his two older brothers fought in the Pacific during World War II. When they came home from World War II, they took their uniforms off and placed them in that trunk. There they sat till sometime around 1958, when my grandmother decided they had gotten bugs in them, and needed to be burned. Till this day I can see a picture in my mind of those uniforms burning in their yard in a pile, one coat still having the ribbons attached above the left pocket as it burned. One humorous aside on the old trunk is that it contained an OD Green wool sweater that had been my father's. I asked him for it one day when we were at my grandparents. It was wool, someone had washed it in hot water, and it had shrunk so bad that I could hardly get it over my head, let alone on my body.

Getting back to the contents of the suitcase, the USN pin was a United States Navy hat pin, the flat round piece of metal was a blank Navy dog tag, and the stamp booklet was a War Ration Booklet. Everything was rationed during War World II. You had to have these stamps to buy everything from sugar to gasoline.

I say all that I have said to say this, everyone has a trunk, or shoebox, or desk drawer that has something in it like this. This Memorial Day pull it out and show it to your children and grandchildren, talk with them about what it is and what it means. Besides that, I want to challenge you to do two other things. One is to take that same child or grandchild to Wally World, and buy a five pack of American Flags. After that find a cemetery that has some veterans buried in it, and let them place those flags on five graves. My second challenge is to take five pennies with you. Let them place those five pennies on those five graves; this comes from the Tradition of the Coin. Whenyouplace that penny, you are saying to that family I didn't know you, but I visited your loved ones grave and I honor them.

Memorial Day is a day to remember. I pray yours will be a good one, but remember the pain, suffering, and sacrifice others have given for us.